‘Ofel’ continues to move away, to exit PAR Friday

MTSAT ENHANCED-IR Satellite Image 5:30 a.m., 26 October 2012

MANILA, Philippines—Tropical Storm “Ofel” continues to move away and is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) Friday, the weather bureau said.

At 4:00 a.m Friday, the center of Tropical Storm Ofel was estimated at 320 kilometers west of Iba, Zambales, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 90 kph, Pagasa said.

It was forecast to move west northwest at 22 kph, Pagasa added.

Although all public storm warning signal elsewhere is now lowered, Pagasa still advised fishing boats and other small seacrafts not to venture out into the seaboards of northern and Central Luzon due to the surge of northeast monsoon.